THIRTY-TWO

SCHANK (or SHANK), Martin (1670-1747) Manuscript sermons and essays.

[Scotland, Aberdeenshire? Circa 1697-1710]. Quarto (195 x 158 x 18 mm). Pagination 83, [1, blank], 103, [5, blanks], 37, [1, blank], 25 (lacking pp 23/4). Contemporary panelled calf, rubbed, front board detached. Watermark: Horn (obscured in the gutter).

Provenance: Armorial bookplate: “Shank of Castlerigg”. Inscription to front free endpaper: “Mr Martin Schank: Father to Alexander Schank”

¶ Martin Schank (or Shank) was the son of Henry Schank, bailie of Kinghorn in Fife, Scotland. After graduating M.A. from St Andrews in 1690, he became chaplain to Mrs Edmonston of Ednam and was ordained in Auchtertool in 1694. He translated to Newhills in 1697, the same year he married Margaret, daughter of Thomas Downie, an Edinburgh merchant. Their children are recorded as Alexander Schank, of Castlerig, and Matthew Shank. From 1699 until his death in 1747, he was parish minister of Banchory, Aberdeenshire.

These five essays and sermons appear to have been composed at the beginning of his career as a minster at Banchory. They comprise:

[1]. “A Practical Discourse, on Heaven”, annotated in different ink: “Mr Martine Schank 1701”. (pp. 1-59, [1, blank]), written in a neat hand with occasional corrections due to copying errors. Schank's commentary on “Luke 12:31” includes the confident assertion that “Marriage is such a comfortable state, that Paradise it self could not be happy without it”. There are two stubs, but the numbering is continuous, so these excisions do not indicate loss.

[2]. “A Practical Discourse on the vanity of the Creatur”. (pp. 61-83, [1, blank]) – taking its cue from “Eccles. 1.14. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity & vexation of Spirit”.

31]. “A Practical Discourse concerning the Accomplishments of the Promises on the first part of the Text, & on the Second Discourse of our Pilgrimage in the World”. (pp. 1-103, [5, blanks]). A passage from “Hebr.11.13” is the prompt for Schank’s opening: “The Apostle is here perswading his hearers to Constancy and Courage in the day of Trial”; he commends to his audience “the shield of Faith, which would be proof against all the Darts of Satan”.

[4]. “Preparati[on?] [ ?] Sermons immediately before 1697”. The title has been partially rubbed out. The running title reads “A Practical Discourse on Self-Examination”. (pp. 1-37, [1, blank]). [5]. “1710”. The title has been rubbed out, and only the date remains. The running title reads “A Sermon concerning the Peace”. (pp. 1-25, but lacking pp. 23/4, [1, blank]).

These works, which appear to be unpublished, combine Schank’s youthful energy and passion for preaching with selfreflection and his evident enjoyment of his marriage for whom the married state evidently afforded him ease and comfort.

<https://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Angus/Banchory_Ter.html>